Coming to a phone near you

Ryerson students will be able to access their RAMSS accounts on the go using their smartphones by next September.

“Mobile is a very exciting space right now,” said Brian Lesser of Ryerson’s Computing and Communications Services (CCS).

Lesser said top priority is student safety and security. The cost should be minimal, since the CCS is responsible for technological advancements at Ryerson.

“It’d be an absolutely great change,” said Aishah Nofal, a second-year finance student. “I sometimes don’t have access to a computer and it’d be great to quickly change things, or look where my class is.”

But Nofal wonders how many people would get use of this development, since not everyone has a smarthpone, like a Blackberry or iPhone.

“I don’t think it’d be useful. Maybe for some people but not for me,” said Jay Hayur, a first-year business student who doesn’t have a smartphone.

Mike Lubelski, a second-year information technology management student, thinks the school has more pressing needs such as fixing run-down classrooms first.

“It’s like a luxury, not something you need. If you really need to go on RAMSS that badly, you could probably reach a computer,” Lubelski said.

Kathy Ramezanpour, a customer service representative at enrolment services doesn’t think RAMMS accessibility on smartphones is a good idea.

“Students never read the full screen. I want them to see information when they are focused at the library or comfortably at home,” Ramezanpour said, adding that students could misread information on their small screens and come to her confused.

Lesser said RAMSS will look very different on a smartphone screen in comparison to a computer screen because of a different user interface.

Keith Alnwick, the school’s registrar, said this development is in the preliminary stages.